"Ausperity" ; - live webchat with Lucy Tobin Weds 16 Jan 3-4pm

CariGransnet

It's probably fair to say that these days we’re all feeling the pinch. It's post Christmas. Our wages - if working - probably haven’t risen for a long time, but taxes, food, heating, clothes, driving, kids/grandchildren, rent, mortgages and going out – certainly have. Life costs more – but, according to personal finance expert Lucy Tobin, that doesn’t mean it has to be rubbish. Treats can stay on the agenda and there’s no need for a hair shirt or holiday-less year if you trim your costs elsewhere. That’s "ausperity" – living a prosperous life on an austerity budget.

Lucy's new book contains so many money-saving ideas and tips that added together they can knock thousands off the cost of living. If you'd like tips on, say, slashing your heating bill by a third, finding free and cheap days and nights out or raising quick cash without a trip to the pawn shop (and loads more) Lucy's your woman. So to find out how to squeeze more out of your hard-earned cash by adding your questions for her here (and don't forget to join in on 16th.)

Lucy is personal finance editor of the London Evening Standard, where she writes a weekly column ‘How to Save It’ filled with money-saving ideas.

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Stansgran

In The Times today a letter pointed out that careful driving can cut costs . I know keeping at 55mph is cost effective but well nigh impossible in my sort of driving. Any other suggestions?

Definitely a good idea to empty the car of junk - any extra weight will take more petrol to move. When buying petrol, a good website to find the cheapest fuel near to you is petrolprices.com - just enter your postcode and it will direct you to the cheapest pumps. Useful when you're at home but you can also use it to plan where to go when you're travelling on longer trips.
Also - a strange one this, but by filling up at night, you will get a tiny bit more for your money as it's colder. Obviously less of a problem at the moment, but more valid in the heat of summer!
Insurance - never, ever accept a firm's renewal quote. Instead, visit a comparison site such as moneysupermarket.com or gocompare, tap in your details and it will give you the cheapest quote. It will save your details to make it easier for next year. If you can't be bothered with the hassle of switching, just phone your current insurer and ask them to match it "or I'll leave." Most will.

theMulberryTree

Following from Stansgran - Do you think it's beneficial to get one of those boxes stuck to your car to track your speed/what time you drive etc to save on car insurance, or is it better to just get the normal annual/monthly car insurance? Do you really make a saving?
I've heard with those boxes (sorry not sure what they're actually called!), the insurance companies can penalise you for driving out of certain hours etc.

Hello and thanks for your Q. They're called 'telematics boxes' and yes they have been marketed mainly at young/newly qualified drivers. Mainly that's because they're the ones who have the highest premiums, and could potentially see the greatest reduction in premiums by driving safely. Whether or not a box would give you cheaper insurance really depends on your circumstances; my personal experience when I looked at how much a policy would cost me with a telematics box was that it was cheaper to go without and get a traditional policy.
But you can check yourself by asking for a quote from a provider that offers it, such as the AA. Sometimes they work by offering a price for the first quarter, and then it may rise or fall depending on your driving style, safety, speed, etc.

joytotheworld

Where do you stand on bulk buying? Either at a cash and carry or supermarket multi-buy offers? Can never decide whether I'm getting a bargain - or wasting money on things I don't really need and may not use.

Tough one! It depends on what you're buying, and who for. Things like toilet roll will obviously never go off, and if they're on offer at a great low price, and you've got the space at home, it's worth stocking up... That's why there's currently a massive stash of loo roll under my bed!
But always ask yourself if you're going to use everything you buy in bulk - if it's going to go off, you're just wasting money. If you have a smartphone, there's an app that analyses the price of products on offer and tells you if you're actually paying much less when buying three for two, etc - or just carry a calculator around with you, or, even easier, look at the 'price per weight' calculation on most supermarket shelf prices.

kalinka

where do you stand on annual travel insurance? I guess if you travel a lot it's a great deal but can never decide if it is worth it for one summer holiday and the odd weekend away (especially as you have to have 2 nights' booked accommodation to qualify for cover if you are within the UK)

The general rule is, if you take more that two overseas trips a year you'll save with an annual policy, but it does depend on your personal circumstances - age, medical conditions etc.
The most important thing is, whichever policy you buy, get the cheapest price for it. The two steps are:
- use a comparison site such as gocompare.com or comparethemarket.com
- when you've found the cheapest one that covers ALL YOUR NEEDS (some of the very cheapest may not offer enough luggage/medical/etc cover, so read the small print) buy it via a cashback site. These might sound scary, but they're not. The biggest are Quidco and TopCashback. All you do is sign up (the latter is free, but Quidco has a £5 annual fee which comes out of earnings rather than has to be paid upfront), search for the insurer you're about to buy from, click through to buy the cover. You usually pocket £10 to £80 cashback, or usually upwards of 5% for travel insurance, and it's "free" money.
These sites are also great for shopping - most high street and big online names are there and it's an easy way to make money.

jiggle

saw this advertised on twitter so hope I am not too late. do you thing supermarket value brands really are value - or does it work out cheaper to buy the regular ones (ie do they go further? (or taste better))

Can't comment on taste, up to you - but lots of people say after trading down a brand they don't notice a difference at all but instead save lots of money. I write in my book Ausperity about this -my husband sneakily switched a big brand cereal to a supermarket one, knowing I was a big fan of the brand. He even had a bet with me that I wouldn't notice. I said of COURSE I would, and he revealed I'd been chomping the cheaper one for the best part of a week...
A great website is supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk - has 1000s of reviews of own brand products, and even has insider knowledge from factory workers who reveal which, say, own brand biscuits are made in the same place and way as the 'real' thing.